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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Notes On Poverty Traps And Appalachia, Steven Durlauf
Notes On Poverty Traps And Appalachia, Steven Durlauf
University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series
In these notes, I provide some general ideas on how to conceptualize poverty traps and speculate on their applicability to understanding Appalachian poverty. My goal is to stimulate thinking on Appalachia that exploits contemporary perspectives in economics on the sources of persistent poverty and inequality. To do this, I focus on both the theory of poverty traps as well as issues in the econometric assessment of their empirical salience.
Family Change And Poverty In Appalachia, Daniel Lichter, Lisa Cimbulak
Family Change And Poverty In Appalachia, Daniel Lichter, Lisa Cimbulak
University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series
The current economic and political climate provides a vivid contrast with the circumstances of the 1990s, when the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) ushered in welfare reform during a period of unprecedented economic expansion and job growth (Blank 2002; Ziliak 2009). This legislation sought to “end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage.” Among PRWORA’s goals were to reduce out-of-wedlock births and encourage the formation of two-parent families. For most states, much of the initial emphasis on self-sufficiency was placed on “work first” programs (i.e., …
Down From The Mountain: Skill Upgrading And Wages In Appalachia, Christopher Bollinger, James P. Ziliak, Kenneth R. Troske
Down From The Mountain: Skill Upgrading And Wages In Appalachia, Christopher Bollinger, James P. Ziliak, Kenneth R. Troske
University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series
Despite evidence that skilled labor is increasingly concentrated in cities, whether regional wage inequality is predominantly due to differences in skill levels or returns is unknown. We compare Appalachia, with its wide mix of urban and rural areas, to other parts of the U.S., and find that gaps in both skill levels and returns account for the lack of high wage male workers. For women, skill shortages are important across the distribution. Because rural wage gaps are insignificant, our results suggest that widening wage inequality between Appalachia and the rest of the U.S. owes to a shortage of skilled cities.
Socioeconomic Status, Child Health, And Future Outcomes: Lessons For Appalachia, Janet Currie
Socioeconomic Status, Child Health, And Future Outcomes: Lessons For Appalachia, Janet Currie
University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series
Appalachians are in poor health relative to other Americans. For example, the ageadjusted all cause mortality rate for Appalachian in 2006 was over 900 per 100,000 compared to a rate of 760 per 100,000 for those outside of Appalachia. This essay shows that health disparities start before birth—the incidence of low birth weight is 90 1,000 in rural Appalachia compared to 83 per 1,000 outside the U.S. These disparities continue through childhood and into adulthood. Moreover, although African Americans are generally in poorer health relative to white Americans, disparities between Appalachia and the rest of the U.S. are much greater …
Inequality And Human Capital In Appalachia: 1960-2000, Dan Black, Seth Sanders
Inequality And Human Capital In Appalachia: 1960-2000, Dan Black, Seth Sanders
University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series
This paper examines changes in the earnings distribution of men age 25-64 between 1960 and 2000 in Appalachia and in the remainder of the U.S. Because Appalachia is more rural than the remainder of the U.S. we also examine changes in the earnings distribution in rural vs. urban areas. Our central finding is that there have been large differences in the evolution of the earnings distribution in rural vs. urban areas and this is the principal reason that Appalachia’s earnings distribution differs to some degree from the remainder of the U.S. We find that the bottom of the earnings distribution …
Cities, Economic Development, And The Role Of Place-Based Policies: Lessons For Appalachia, Matthew Kahn
Cities, Economic Development, And The Role Of Place-Based Policies: Lessons For Appalachia, Matthew Kahn
University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series
This paper surveys economic research on the association between economic development and urban areas, links this summary to some important trends in economic outcomes in Appalachia in recent decades, highlights areas in need of future research on the role of urban areas as engines of economic development in Appalachia, and discusses what types of place-based policies might be effective to promote economic growth and development in the Appalachian region.